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Seven Years of Full Time Travel!
Hello, hello, and welcome back to The Wanderlover Podcast. I’m your host, Danielle Hu. And this month actually marks the 7 year anniversary of my full time travels.
2018 was such a transformational year in so many ways and since then I’ve met incredible people from all over the world, some who travel as more of a vacation and of course others who travel full time as digital nomads.
Since February of 2018, which literally feels like lifetimes ago, like I actually feel kind of old for thinking back to 2018, but anyway since then I’ve traveled to over 40 countries running my online business and getting married to the love of my life and traveling with him together around the world.
In today’s episode, we’re going to be diving into how to make money as a digital nomad so that this lifestyle is sustainable. And if this is something that interests you, I will be sharing all the ways you can sustain your lifestyle on the road, whether you want to country hop every other week or slow mad or just stay in one place.
Employee Vs. Entrepreneur Matrix
The main ways I’ve seen digital nomads sustain their travels are either living off of savings and or investments, working for someone else: either in person, like at a hostel or a hotel or restaurant or bar or tour agency, working for someone else online, or running an online business, which is what I teach all my students in the Digital Nomad Society and all of my programs.
This is where the employee versus entrepreneur matrix come in. You can either be an employee or entrepreneur. And then on the other axis, you can either be location dependent or location independent.
So whether you have that location freedom, and then depending on whether you’re an employee or entrepreneur with your own business, that kind of dictates whether or not you have the time freedom and the financial freedom.
If you are in the Digital Nomad Society or in any of my programs, you’ll know that I will always encourage you to start an online business so that you can be your own boss and achieve that time freedom, location freedom, and financial freedom.
In the Digital Nomad Society, I give you ideas of over a hundred online businesses that you can start today.
And, of course, modules. helping you become a digital nomad. So if this is something you’re interested in, I will link the society in the episode description.
For the sake of this episode, I understand that not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. So we’ll be going through all the different ways you can make money as a digital nomad from what I’ve seen on the road.
Remote Employment
The first way that is quite common, and I feel like this boomed after COVID when employers, especially in America, realized that their employees can work remotely, is remote employment, so working for someone else or working for another company.
Nowadays, many companies hire remote employees. and adopt this remote first mentality because it costs less for them, they don’t need to rent office space and they don’t have to have leases on expensive buildings.
My younger brother, he has a fully remote full time position with a tech company in the States. And with that, you get a steady income and you are able to travel. However, you don’t necessarily have that time freedom because you’re either tied to certain hours or you have to report to a manager.
I remember when I was in Hawaii, I met this guy and he had a remote job for a financial services firm, but he was working Eastern hours in Hawaii and it was just insane because he would go out partying all night, but then he would have to literally wake up in a few hours to sign on to work.
So with that, there are obviously pros and cons and a lot of people nowadays, they try to find remote employment because it’s comfortable.
You get that steady paycheck and it’s familiar because you are an employee. And if you have an employee, mindset working for an employer and still being an employee that is within a comfort zone.
Seasonal Or Local Jobs
The next common way that I see digital nomads make money is through seasonal or local jobs. This isn’t digital at all. It’s actually very location dependent, but it’s one of the most common ways that I see some people make a living while traveling full time.
So they either work as like a tour guide or yoga instructor or bartender in the country that they’re visiting. And a lot of it is. I also know some people who go through programs like WWOOFing, where you travel to a different country and you have your accommodation taken care of, and you are kind of trading your time for money as you work with another business or a farm or like a vineyard.
These opportunities can definitely start and supplement your income while you’re on the road, and it might, again, be part of a comfort zone because it is part of that employee quadrant of the matrix. So if this is something that you feel drawn to, there are so many ways that you can make this work for yourself.
A lot of people I know also travel to different parts of the world depending on the season, so maybe summer in Europe and then they spend winter in the mountains somewhere. So depending on what your skills are and what you’re looking for, this could also be a very feasible option for you.
Freelancing
The next set of digital nomads that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting are freelancers. And this is like a bridge between employee and entrepreneur. You’re not necessarily working for someone else, but you haven’t really created your own agency or your own personal brand, and you’re still hunting for jobs and getting paid per service.
This is really, really common, and I’ve met so many freelancers from graphic designers or social media managers or web developers.
Freelancing lets you use your skills to work for clients anywhere in the world. I see some freelancers who completely rely on sites like Upwork and Fiverr and I see other freelancers who start their own online brand and they have their own products and services but they’re still heavily reliant on new jobs and instead of living like paycheck to paycheck.
They’re living job to job. And then on the other end of the spectrum, we have agencies with waitlists, with a team and so much demand, and it’s truly like running your own business. So there are many facets of freelancing and the longer you stay in it, the more you expand and grow a freelancing business. It has the potential to grow into something very, very big.
Teaching & Tutoring
The next most common way that I see digital nomads make money is teaching or tutoring online. Similar to freelancing, you can either get paid per service, or in this case, get paid per hour.
A lot of online teachers and tutors, they work for an agency and so they will constantly get students and clients. But they will give a percentage of their earnings away to the agency that got them the students in the first place.
With the teachers and tutors in the Business Academy and in my programs, I always encourage them to start their own online presence, online brand, charge their own prices and get a hundred percent of the income with your own online brand and online business, you are able to charge whatever you want.
You still have the demand. You can have wait lists, you can expand, you can create courses or podcasts or digital products. There are just so many ways that you can monetize online instead of just charging per hour and working for someone else. There’s a lot more opportunity. Of course it takes more work upfront, but in my opinion, in the long run, it is so worth it.
Consulting & Coaching
The next half of this episode, I’m going to be diving into some of my favorite ways to make money as a digital nomad. The first being consulting or coaching. (Check out my tips for making money as a new mindset coach here!) So using your professional background, your expertise to offer either one on one or one to many consulting or coaching services.
So for example, I coach aspiring entrepreneurs and online business owners and digital nomads on starting their online businesses and traveling full time. Whatever your expertise is, there is someone out there willing to pay for your guidance to get them from point A to point B quicker. I’ve worked with fitness coaches.
I’ve worked with nutritionists, psychologists, relationship coaches, career coaches. There are so many different industries where you can apply this business model and help people online. It doesn’t even have to be one on one. It can be running masterminds or online retreats or conferences. There are just so many ways that you can expand on coaching and consulting that enables you to live a fully nomadic lifestyle.
Personally, I love working with coaches because not only do they help the lives and completely transform the lives of their clients, but there’s just so many ways that they can scale their business. It’s a really, really lucrative and impactful business model, and it is applicable to so many different industries.
So more often than not, you probably have something that you can offer in terms of health, wealth, or relationships. In the employee versus entrepreneur matrix, this obviously falls under entrepreneur.
And just a reminder if this sounds daunting or if the next few ways of making money online as a digital nomad sound daunting to you, just know that It is possible and you just have to learn what you don’t know.
Digital Products
The next way is through digital products like ebooks, courses, presets. So passive income, if you listen to our last episode, it’s a complete game changer. And once you create something upfront, you are able to monetize it again and again and again. This can include selling digital products like ebooks, online courses, presets.
It takes more work up front, but once you have your content and marketing systems in place, then you can start making money in your sleep.
And I know that some of you are going to think this is impossible, but I promise you that once you are fully committed and you actually learn how to build up these passive income streams or these digital products for yourself, the rewards of being able to travel and not have to think about where your next paycheck is going to come in because you’re just constantly making sales. That feeling is a feeling like no other.
Content Creation
The next way that I personally love and recommend to make money online as a digital nomad is content creation. (Check out my episode on all things content creation if you want to get started or just take a peek behind the curtains of this career!)
So whether that’s blogging, podcasting, content creating on Instagram, you can monetize via ads, sponsored posts and affiliate revenue. If you love sharing, if you love creating and educating others, you can either start a blog or a YouTube channel or a podcast.
And there are many, many ways that you can monetize your online brand. There’s really no one size fits all cookie cutter solution to this. It is an industry that really depends on the individual and what you like sharing what platform comes most naturally for you, whether you want to be in front of the camera or behind.
There are so many different avenues that you can go with this, but it is just so much fun. If you are a creative, content creation does take time and consistency, but I believe that if you are committed and you know that you really want this, once you achieve it, there’s really nothing else that can replace this.
There’s no other business in this world where I’m like, I would rather have that than what I’ve built for myself. It’s just so rewarding and it really fuels you in a different way than working for someone else. Of course, this also means that you get to be your own boss, and I’ve worked with so many creators where we’ve actually tapped into many of the other ways to make money as a digital nomad.
So maybe you start with content creation, but then you expand into digital products or you start a retreat or you create your own coaching program. Like you’re not limited. To just one of these avenues like you kind of are if you work for an employer and you’re just spending most of your days getting that one paycheck rate, which is why I really encourage you to think about ways you can break free and become an entrepreneur and achieve that time, freedom, location, freedom, and financial freedom.
E-Commerce Dropshipping
The last way that I’m just going to add in here, it’s a way that I tried. I know that it works because I have friends who have fully committed themselves to this business model for years and years. And that is e commerce. So e commerce dropshipping, Amazon FBA, I’m going to group it all in here because I know that it works.
And I have friends who do it, who are super successful. I tried it once and it just wasn’t for me because I didn’t align with the whole business model. And I wanted my face to my business and I wanted my own personal brand. But if you want to learn about dropshipping or e commerce, know that it is a totally valid way to make money as a digital nomad.
How Do Expats Make Money While Living In Bali?
One question that I’ve gotten from one of our listeners is, how do expats make money while living in Bali? Bali is the hot spot for digital nomads. That’s where I first went after I quit my corporate job to stay for an extended period of time just because there were so many other expats there and they make money with one of the eight ways that I just listed on top of either Living off of their savings or investment income or just working for a local company. So I would say that the majority of bali expats and nomads, they fall under one of these categories because it’s really how you sustain this lifestyle.
How Much Do Digital Nomads Make?
Another common question that I get is what does the usual digital nomad make? Honestly, this completely varies. It’s like asking how much do corporate employees make? People can make next to nothing, like not be monetizing their business or not be making income or just not be working, to like multiple millions eight figures nine figures.
I’ve seen online entrepreneurs make a killing from their business So it really depends on what industry you are in and whether you are an employee, or an employer or entrepreneur with your own business that you can scale, you can have unlimited, uncapped exponential revenue. Whereas if you’re working for someone else, it’s more like what is your industry and what is your job and how much of a salary do you get to make?
So again, I will always encourage you to either start your own brand or start your own business. And if you are interested in joining us and hundreds of other aspiring digital nomads, I will link the Digital Nomad Society and you can check out the podcast episode + blog post all about it here.
If you found this episode helpful, don’t forget to share it with a friend and leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Let me know if you have any questions, and I hope to see you inside the Digital Nomad Society. See you guys next week.
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